


Last Gem Standing

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 03:06:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5611525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garnet and Jasper have an arrangement</p><p>A very aggressive, very physical arrangement</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Gem Standing

Jasper's room was an annex of a section that used to contain extra pathways between Garnet's and Amethyst's rooms. A lot of redesigning had to take place in order to accommodate the Temple's three recent additions, but seven rooms wasn't a problem for the Temple Core to render, and Jasper liked to keep things simple. Her room looked not too dissimilar to the cave that housed the Temple Door: It was a simple opening with various rock structures to provide texture. The cave's walls were luminescent in the same way that the rest of the temple was, and streaks of orange and brown covered the room's walls. It was, for Jasper, simply a place to be when she wanted to be alone.

Garnet's face, currently, was in the process of being slammed into the largest of the orange streaks, which covered a portion of the far back side of the cave. She barely managed to bring a gauntlet to her face before impact, absorbing the majority of the impact with her hand and shoulder. The cave wall cratered, sending stress fractures across the back of the cave. Garnet pulled her head away and turned, just in time to see a large orange fist rapidly filling her vision. Garnet rolled out of the way, hearing the loud _thunk_ and crinkle of Jasper's fist embedding itself the wall. Garnet spun to her feet, re-summoning her gauntlets.

Jasper was going to pull her fist out of the wall, that much was certain. But here, Garnet's Future Vision diverged into two equally probable options. Jasper would either lunge at her again, or spin into a ball and jump at her. Garnet guessed lunge, and began to raise her hands to block the blow.

With a yell, Jasper opted for the ball, using the momentum of dislodging her fist to begin the spin. Garnet quickly brought her hands closer together when she realized this. She knocked Jasper away, bouncing Jasper off at an angle and back into the wall. The block was imperfect, however, and Garnet skidded towards the center of the cave, nearly losing her balance in the process. Her gauntlets shattered into thousands of tiny pieces that glittered in the lighting of the cave, disappearing into flashes of light as they hit the ground.

* * *

This wasn't the first time Garnet found herself in this situation.

The first time was a few years back, one week into a mission drought. There was nothing - not even minor attacks that Peridot could have handled by herself - for any of the Gems to do.

The lack of activity was driving Garnet insane. Meditation and spending time with the others could distract her only so much. Her body was itching to do something, anything more taxing than walking with Steven along the boardwalk.

Then, on the eighth day, Jasper approached her. She was 'bored out of her mind' and asked if she wanted to spar for a bit. She asked it nonchalantly, leaned up against the staircase, but Garnet could tell that she was the same: a mix of boredom and pent-upness that could only be cured with physical activity.

Garnet said yes. Jasper was, at this point, new to the Crystal Gems, and Garnet hadn't had the chance to fight Jasper in a sparring context. They agreed on a couple rules: no damage to Gems, first to regenerate or surrender loses. Other than that, any ability was fair game. Garnet figured that the fight would take at most an hour.

The fight lasted almost a day and left both of them so exhausted they were hardly able to move. They simply lay there in silence next to each other, each on the verge of having to retreat into their gem but unwilling to relinquish the amount of pride necessary to do so.

When they finally had the strength to stand, they did so slowly. Jasper's hair was disheveled almost comically and she was covered in scratches and bruises, but she didn't shapeshift to remove the damage. Instead, she cracked a smile and made a quip about how that was the best fight she was a part of in a long time. Jasper then asked Garnet if she would want to do it again some time.

Garnet said yes, without hesitation. She could tell that Jasper had needed this as much as she did. Having an open invitation like this would prove useful in the future.

Plus, she had enjoyed herself. Which was strange. Normally training felt like a necessity, something she had to do, like Greg having to service van. But this time, with Jasper, it was... fun.

* * *

Garnet's punch caught Jasper right in the stomach. Jasper doubled forward, but not before summoning her helmet and head-butting Garnet in the face. Garnet stumbled backwards, reflexively covering her face with her hands. She stabilized, opening her eyes (her visor was disposed of hours ago)

Jasper looked a little worse for wear. A stray boulder clipped her chest, leaving a large gash that stretched diagonally across her torso. Her uniform was ripped in several places and her hair was a mess, littered with stray fragments of rock. She paused for a moment, analyzing the situation.

This time, Garnet took the offensive. She saw an opening and executed, sprinting forward and grabbing Jasper by her wrist. Before Jasper had time to react, Garnet pulled, flipping Jasper over so she landed on her back. Garnet jumped onto Jasper, straddling her, and began a flurry of punches aimed at her chest. Jasper sat up quickly, the front piece of her helmet knocking Garnet's right hand away. Garnet found herself unbalanced for a instant, and Jasper shoved Garnet off of her. Garnet rolled into a sitting position. She watched as Jasper stood up, hands drawn into tight fists, teeth bared.

Garnet stood and re-summoned her weapon. She could feel a slight ache in her joints, and her gauntlets were starting to become heavy weights over her hands. Her body was covered in surface-level scratches and dents. But she was nowhere near done. She could still stand. She could still summon. That was enough.

* * *

It became an informal arrangement. There wasn't a schedule they adhered to or specific moves they practiced on each other. Whenever there was a lull in monster activity, one would simply make eye contact with the other, nod, and within a few minutes they would be back in Jasper's room, fighting until they could no longer stand. It was always Jasper's room - it was secluded enough that they wouldn't be disturbed, and the metaphysical malleability of the room made it easily repairable.

The fights always went on for hours. Jasper was stronger, but Garnet was quicker and more agile. Jasper could take more damage, but Garnet's Future Vision was a clear tactical advantage. It was a tug of war with no clear winner, no matter how many times they sparred.

Which was probably why they enjoyed it as much as they did. Gem monsters were beasts - mindless, driven by base desires and, as such, easily defeatable in most circumstances. Pearl and Amethyst and, later, Steven and Peridot and Lapis, were all mindful, but ultimately predictable. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses that Garnet had internalized after training them and watching them fight.

And then there was Jasper.

Jasper was unpredictable. That was the key ingredient: Jasper was able to surprise her. Jasper was able to immediately absorb the current situation and somehow come up with multiple viable options. Fighting Jasper was a game of chess in which Garnet always felt challenged, always felt like she was fighting a new opponent.

At one point, a few months into their arrangement, they incorporated a post-battle lava soak. They chose one of the pools in Garnet's section of the temple. They would soak for about an hour, in near silence, clean themselves off, and then return to the rest of the world. It was entirely unnecessary, but they did it for the same reason Amethyst ate – it felt good after a long battle.

"You're like nothing I've ever fought before," Jasper said aloud, after half an hour into their third such session. Garnet had been staring at the ceiling previously, but shifted so she was looking at her.

"You're so..." Jasper continued, motioning with her hand as she tried to find the right word.

"Alive." She finally settled on. "You're so alive and full of energy when we fight. I could fight you forever and never get bored."

Garnet smiled at that. She said she felt the same.

* * *

Garnet looked over Jasper, and felt her eyes looking over her in the same way. They were both reassessing the situation.

"Getting tired?" she asked, adding as much sarcasm as she could into the sentence.

Jasper ran her hands through her hair, putting it back in it's place. She let out a single bark of laughter. "Ha! Not even close. It's going to take more than your puny gloves to take me down!"

Garnet assumed a neutral stance, gauntlets raised. The banter was dumb and unnecessary - there was no one around to enjoy it, and both of them were professionals, not needing to boast about their skills. And yet Garnet found herself enjoying it, found herself grinning at the line.

"Then show me what you've got," Garnet shouted back, gauntlets forming around her fists.

Jasper responded by jumping at Garnet again. Garnet jumped towards Jasper, too, and their fists collided with each other, sending a shockwave that shook the entire cave. A weaker Gem would have shattered at the force of the impact, but both merely flew back. This fight could go on for hours more, Garnet realized.

As Jasper picked up and hurled a boulder the size of Greg's van at her, she realized was entirely okay with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Headcannon: Assuming redemption, Garnet will be the gem Jasper becomes closest to.
> 
> That's not a very new/innovative headcannon, but it's also not one I see floated very often. I think the two of them would understand each other most completely from a "we're similar kinds of people" perspective. Of course, there would be points of friction (Jasper's probably going to have a little trouble getting used to the whole fusion thing), but they're both adult Gems, they can work past it.
> 
> Also, I bet if you can endure it, a lava soaking feels real nice after a long day of punching things.


End file.
